Untitled #4

How do you present yourself to the world around? Which part of you, seen by society, is a truthful reflection of who you are, and which part is shaped by external expectations? The image of an anonymous hand measuring the circumference of the subject’s skull evokes a sense of tension and unease. The subject’s empty eyes, fixed on something far off in the distance, reinforce the sense of absence. What lies behind her empty gaze? Note how the framing of the image leaves out both the model’s mouth and the owner of the hand. How does that affect your experience of this image? Untitled #4 by Ilona Szwarc is a portrait of the ‘self’, without being a self-portrait. As it happens, the portrayed person is a lookalike of the photographer. The series title, I am a woman and I cast no shadow, could refer to the women in Szwarc’s work that are not entirely present within their own story, but are trapped in between their true identity and the roles imposed on them from outside.